Assessment of dental health check-ups in Turkey between 0-14 years of age in 2014

Abstract

Aim: Dental problems in children are important health problems all over the world as well as in our country. In this study, we aimed to determine the status of regular dental health checkups and some sociodemographic characteristics in 0-14 year old children in Turkey Material and Method: The study was conducted using data from the Turkish Statistical Institute Health Study Questionnaire 2014. Within the scope of the study, a total of 6946 individuals between 0-14 years of age were studied. Descriptive statistics were taken first in this study, which was conducted for dental control of children aged 0-6 and 7-14. In the second phase, the differences between age groups according to demographic characteristics of dental health related habits were examined. Results: It has been determined that 82.7% of children at the age group 0-6 and 41.7% of children at the age group 7-14 are not taken to the dental control until this age. The proportion of those who are taken to the dentist for control without complaints increases with age (0-6 years: 9.9%, 7-14 years: 21.9%). In both age groups, the rate of bringing children to the dentist increases by the higher monthly income level. The rate of children, who are taken to the healthy child follow-up, brought back to the dentist for control purposes are also escalating. Conclusion: Children are usually not brought to the dentist for dental control without having dental problems. The proportion of children brought to the dentist for routine control is as low as 1/10 of those who are taken to the dentist at the age group of 0-6. The rate of first-time dentist visit for children is increasing due to economic status of their families and the fact that they are followed up by sound child monitoring.